Category: Most Improved Kernel Module 35
So often the kernel gets all the credit. We decided to be a little pickier and have people vote for the most improved module in the Linux kernel. A driver you really like? Support for that really cool piece of hardware? Or maybe you just really think that bob.o has just some of the prettiest hacks your eyes have seen in it. Regardless, vote away.
My nomination(s): (Score:1)
quake_masq: a savior for LAN parties, letting everyone get inside the network get in on the same internet server. makes for badass teamplay
icq_masq: I found this gem on Freshmeat. now, everything in icq (chats, file transfers, etc) work from behind the masq. and flawlessly too.
portfw/autofw: let the old P133 take the beats as the masq box, forwarding the real server requests to the powerhouses on the other side of the firewall. a cheap load balancer and security measure.
Ok, I'm done.
Re:Lm_sensors! (Score:1)
And it always annoyed me that Windows could do this but Linux couldn't.
Linux Intrusion Detection System (Score:1)
no serious, i think what this chinese guy is doing is very interesting. he is basically sealing a box equipped with this patch so script kiddies won't mess with it.
among its features (in the words of its author): mem/kmem lock, ptrace syscall lock, Allow some specified processes to access
and so on...
get it at lids [webmotion.net]
Re:Framebuffer support (Score:1)
Joystick Modules. (Score:1)
tulip (Score:1)
Re:I agree (Score:1)
Emu10k1 (Score:1)
LVM !! LVM !! (Score:1)
Two ideas for nomination (Score:1)
Second driver that got me to wet my self is the GeForce support for XFree. (http://www.s2.org/~jpaana/nv), which i think is now included in the XFree pre 4.0 snapshots (since 3.8.17).
-- Chris Chabot
"I dont suffer from insanity, i enjoy every minute of it!"
emu10k1 driver (Score:1)
Now, whether it has been the most useful, is up to debate. It certainly is nice having even stereo-mirrored 4-speaker sound in Linux - but I'd have to say that the driver that has saved me the most time and frustration is the framebuffer device driver - besides being able to have the high-res console, being able to support all the really crummy video cards they have at work here in X (when they don't have an X driver written for it) has been incredibly useful!
MinaInerz
Mina Inerz [N. Reinking]
Donald Becker (Score:1)
Re:The PCMCIA driver modules. (Score:1)
Lm_sensors! (Score:1)
OK, I'm one of the developers, but so what? :')
Lm_sensors [lm-sensors.nu] is pretty cool and can be used to see how hot your CPU's are, how fast your CPU fans are spinning, what voltages your supplies are providing, drive that neat I2C display, etc., etc. Alan Cox thinks it's worthy of kernel integration, scheduling it for 2.5.x when it gets started. We've come a long way over the last year or so....
--Phil
Re:And I2C! (Score:1)
In the area of patting the backs of key developers, I'd like to give a shout out to the following:
Simon Vogl for his amazing I2C work
Frodo Looijaard for being the lead programmer and project leader
Alex Larsson who originally started this project from which we began from (almost 2 years ago?)
Kyösti Mälkki for some amazing coding
Mark D. Studebaker for some great additions and important drivers
Alan, Gerd, Will, etc., etc.
Many, many testers, helpers, and midnight coders which have really made things work and the project interesting.
--Phil
Re:Framebuffer support (Score:1)
-jeffy
emu10k1 (Score:1)
Why only Linux? (Score:1)
Don Becker's ethernet modules (Score:1)
PCMCIA, or Video4Linux (Score:1)
As a second nominee, BTTV support specifically, or more generally Video for Linux - things like radio and tuners and G200 overlays are now working a lot better. So I can watch both TV and DVD now.
It's all about Vojtech Pavlik (joystick/input) (Score:1)
Framebuffer support (Score:2)
Does anyone know the module name? Is it technically a "kernel module"?
Urk! (Score:2)
If it counts as a module, I'd have to say my #1 favourite is Reiserfs. It's the most elegent filing system I've seen, it's efficient on the disk and it's fast!
Coming joint second, IMHO, are FreeS/WAN and the International Patch, which offer phenominal security at the kernel level.
The silliest kernel patch, though, I think should go do PPS. A -nanosecond- clock? If you can find a source stable enough outside of a few research labs or the military, I'm not sure the hardware Linux will run on is stable enough to be able to make use of the accuracy.
I agree (Score:2)
But tulip is the one I use, not my "almost a tulip chip" linksys card. I wrote to Becker (instead of testing out beta drivers like I should have..) when my card didn't work with the in-kernel driver at the time - he helpfully pointed me to a newer version that works flawlessly.
ALSA... (Score:2)
ALSA has definately come a long way...
ALSA... (Score:2)
http://www.alsa-project.org
Lots of stability, lots of cards, extremely open, limited MIDI yet, but designed and being implemented.
ALSA has definately come a long way...
And I2C! (Score:2)
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I second that (Score:2)
Am truly gradeful for the boys and girls who code for the project. Enjoy, and thank you for giving a voice to my linux box.
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Re:The ZIP drive module (Score:2)
This is a big improvement over the old functionality and deserves credit.
Besides, I wasn't going to nominate something I don't actually use...
How's about USB support? (Score:3)
Journaled File Systems (Score:3)
1) Those of us (probably the majority) who shut down our Linux boxes daily, suffer an occasional power failure, or even reboot to Windows sometimes, sit through countless centuries of fscking delays. A JFS eliminates this, with untold possiblities for the world, since that much mroe time will be available for productive work.
2) SuSE includes ReiserFS in its kernels, no? Linux is GPL'd after all; the rules don't say that the module has to be in a Linus Torvalds or Alan Cox maintained tree!
3) On the server front, the more Linux has to offer for high availability, and protection from data loss, the better. Being able to claim 3 journaled file systems (XFS, ext3, and ReiserFS), Linux advocates have that much more firepower.
The PCMCIA driver modules. (Score:4)
I am a long-time Linux user with different laptops and so I experienced first hand how much work David Hinds and a number of helpers have put into them.
Just look at it:
- From its early beginnings, the modules were a more and more *complete* set of hot-swap drivers long before similar hardware (usb) existed.
- David & Co. have created drivers for most every PCMCIA card on the market (I know what I talk about, I have used a number of very strange cards, a PCMCIA-connected floppy drive for the Toshiba Libretto among them). Of course, there will always be cards missing. But still, the sheer number of drivers in the PCMCIA modules are incredible.
- They have done so even for those PCMCIA cards without proper developer documentation.
- David's work was not included with the kernel for a very long time becaus of design decisions by the core kernel developers. Nevertheless, he has kept on supporting this *external* set of sources for many years and made it compatible to most kernel versions at any given time (the same source distribution was compatible with 2.0.x, 2.2.x and 2.3.x for some time).
- Also, the source's Makefile is compatible with every distribution I know of - out of the box. (The PCMCIA modules require some modified init-scripts).
So yes, the PCMCIA modules are an incredible effort that have come a long way over a long time and are very solid piece of software. I possibly wouldn't use Linux without them.
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